Wednesday, January 30, 2013

TREES DYING IN ICE




  















In the photo the girl is taking a picture
An old-fashioned camera held to her eye
And all about her a fairyland of crystal;
Trees, bushes, buildings outlined
Even in black and white, everything
Shimmers in the sunlight, everything
Glimmers and sparkles like crystal

It is only after careful examination
That the eye registers the awkward
Un-natural angle of tree-branches
And whole rows or trees lying down
As if shot by firing squads and all of them
Iced over thickly until it is impossible to tell
Where one stops and another begins

The ice-storm came in the dark of night
With the winds high, howling wildly
And sleet sheeting down in copious amounts
The ice built up, layering the wood
Until its groans could be heard even
Over the storm’s cacophony – wood dying
Groans and moans deeply but in the end

Booms as loud as thunder when the ice
Takes its life – whether amputating limb
By large limb, or going right to the heart
And chopping it down at the trunk
Ultimately, the sound so like that of a rifle
Report ends with old growth forest being
Brought to its knees and no matter
How beautifully the storm dresses the result
The damage is fatal and irreparable





9 comments:

  1. Your words bring me right into the photo. Love the story, richly detailed. Wonderful response to the prompt. This is one to read again!

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  2. This is an ICILY beautiful poem. You have captured the beauty, as well as the devastation, of such an ICY storm.

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  3. Great depiction of the beauty as well as the destruction of an ice storm.

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  4. I like this! You write a short story, packed with detail, poetically. A really good response to the prompt. So glad you joined us at Verse First!

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  5. A great write. Made me really think about what trees go through in winter.

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  6. Wow! I can see this scene so clearly through your words. Wonderful poem so descriptive and alive.

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  7. Very well written and deeply felt.
    McGuffy's Reader
    http://www.mcguffysreader.blogspot.com

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  8. Thank you all so much - I just love it when a group of poets "get" what it is I'm trying to say and every one of you that read and commented here has done just that; it's very rewarding and I so appreciate it.

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